Hot Topics:

Denver and the West

Colorado laws may make it wise for drunk drivers to flee the scene of a crash

By Jessica Fender The Denver Post

Posted:
12/26/2010 01:00:00 AM MST

Updated:
12/26/2010 02:06:42 PM MST

A pregnant woman struck by a hit-and-run driver in Denver's Stapleton neighborhood has been identified as 27-year-old Laura Gorham. Gorham was hit in a crosswalk at 29th Avenue and Central Park Boulevard. (Joe Amon, The Denver Post)

When a driver mowed down Laura Gorham and left the injured expectant mother and her dying unborn son in a Denver crosswalk Dec. 9, it prompted a weeks-long police investigation and outraged a community.

But while the driver's actions might have been "morally reprehensible," as a prosecutor's representative put it, if he or she had been drinking, fleeing the scene was probably the right legal choice to avoid severe punishment.

Colorado's laws punish a drunken driver who causes a serious accident far more harshly than a driver who hits and runs. A Denver Post analysis of statewide sentencing data dating back to 2005 showed a drinking-related offense on average led to a 25-percent longer prison sentence than the one a defendant can expect in a hit-and-run case.

Related: Several vehicles, including a stolen car, were involved in a crash that closed the intersection of East Dartmouth Avenue and South Chambers Road for about two hours Saturday night. The driver of the stolen car was arrested.
(Steve Nehf, The Denver Post )

Likewise, the data from the state judicial system shows district attorneys more frequently than not dismissed charges related to fleeing the scene of a crash in an effort to reach a plea deal and avoid trial. Drunken drivers who injure someone can't expect the same leniency.

Tom Raynes, head of the Colorado District Attorneys' Council, called abandoning an injured victim "one of the more morally reprehensible" moves a driver can make.

"Whether (upping penalties) for that would change how much it happens, that's really hard to speculate on," Raynes said. "We put laws in place, but the way they're working in the system, I'm not always sure it's always a deterrent."

Advertisement

The driver who hit Gorham, 27, in Denver's Stapleton neighborhood has not been caught, and it seems unlikely that anyone other than a repeat offender would be able to do the sentencing calculation necessary to choose flight over accepting responsibility in the seconds immediately after a crash. But over time, has the state created an incentive for drivers to run?

Police, who've spent more than two weeks searching for the culprit, are now inspecting a dark-colored SUV matching the crash vehicle's description, said Detective John White. Some of the damage to the car, however, was done in a previously documented October accident.

But whether Gorham was hit by that vehicle or a different one, as the time between the crash and an arrest grows, the less likely it is officers will be able to determine whether the driver was drunk at the time.

"It is highly unlikely and extremely difficult to prove . . . that an individual was drunk at the time if we catch them a week or two later," White said, speaking generally about hit-and-run cases. "Someone who stays on the scene and attempts to render aid? That's a totally different situation."

State Rep. Mark Waller, a former deputy district attorney in Pueblo, said it has been his experience that the vast majority of hit-and-run drivers leave because they're intoxicated.

"You're probably leaving the scene of an accident to hide something. Nine times out of 10, it's drinking, and that's why (fleeing) carries a felony charge," said Waller, R-Colorado Springs.

Uneven outcomes

But state law by default puts drunken drivers who stay put after a crash like Gorham's at a disadvantage during sentencing compared with those who run.

Getting caught drunk after gravely hurting someone can mean a charge of vehicular assault-DUI, which is a Class 4 felony. Fleeing the scene of a crash with severe bodily injury is a less severe Class 5 crime.

When prison sentences were handed out, judges gave drunken drivers an average of 5.2 years of incarceration for that offense, the data show.

That's a year and four months longer than sentences for hit-and-run cases in which victims suffered similarly serious injuries.

The longest prison sentence given to a drunken driver for hurting someone during the period examined: 24 years.

But in the 446 cases since 2005 where leaving the scene of an accident with serious bodily injury was charged, the longest sentence for a driver who fled was half that.

Several factors come into play in sentencing, including criminal history. And Raynes cautioned that the data may not reflect cases where judges didn't tie prison time directly to hit-and-run convictions, but tacked on prison or probation time for other crimes committed during a crash because the driver fled or refused responsibility.

But judges or prosecutors routinely waive any punishment for fleeing after a crash, the data show.

A driver — drunk or otherwise — who speeds off after a serious accident has a two-in-three chance of avoiding hit-and-run sanctions entirely, data show.

Either the sentence from the judge or prosecution entirely was deferred for 6 percent of fleeing-the-scene felonies.

Prosecutors dismissed another 58 percent of the felony charges, often as part of plea deals.

Reduced sentence

That's what happened in the case of 22-year-old Jesse Gallegos, who smashed into Lindsey Howland in March when speeding drunk through an area near the University of Denver campus.

Police said he fled the scene before they caught up to him, though a passenger insisted Gallegos was trying to pull over.

The accident left Howland, 24, with a broken pelvis and other physical damage as well as a brain injury that ended her hopes for a graduate degree in family and marriage therapy.

Prosecutors originally charged Gallegos with felony counts of fleeing the scene and vehicular assault-DUI.

Earlier this month, he pleaded guilty to misdemeanor driving under the influence and a less-severe type of felony vehicular assault, which carries the same penalty as fleeing the scene. He was sentenced to two years in state prison.

Howland agreed to the reduced charges, said Lynn Kimbrough, a spokeswoman for the Denver district attorney's office.

Between 4,000 and 6,000 felonies a year come into Denver District Court. About 200 go to trial, Kimbrough said.

"In the vast majority of cases, you've got to reach a guilty plea. The mantra of the DA is to do justice," she said. "If we used all the resources to do that and got a conviction on all the counts, he still would have been eligible for probation."

Dependent on cash

Lawmakers in 2008 toughened penalties for hit-and-run drivers who kill their victims, recognizing that lesser penalties for fleeing the scene created an incentive to drive off.

Now, drivers who kill face just as steep a prison sentence for leaving as they would if caught drunk on the scene. Both are Class 3 felonies.

State Sen.-elect Cheri Jahn, who helped pass the legislation, said she wanted to do something similar for hit-and-run cases in which victims were seriously injured, but she said the state couldn't afford the additional prison costs at the time. Nor is the budget-crunched state likely to find the cash this year.

Jahn expressed dismay that more serious penalties weren't available for Gorham's assailant.

"Literally, we just could not do it. How much money we have (determines) what we can do with sentencing," she said. "That is disgusting."

Lockheed says object part of 'sensor technology' testing that ended ThursdayWhat the heck is that thing? It's fair to assume that question was on the minds of many people who traveled along Colo. 128 south of Boulder this week if they happened to catch a glimpse of what appeared to be a large, silver projectile perched alongside the highway and pointed north toward town.

PARIS (AP) — Bye, New York! Ciao, Milan! Bonjour, Paris! The world's largest traveling circus of fashion editors, models, buyers and journalists has descended on the French capital, clutching their metro maps and city guides, to cap the ready-to-wear fashion season. Full Story